Letter From The President
Posted on: 5 June
By now you will have received your subscription renewal invitation for the 2022/23 financial year.
Let me begin by thanking each of our members for your ongoing commitment to Yarra Yarra and for your support over a challenging period for all of us – individually and for the Club.
Hopefully, as we move forward in living with COVID, we will not experience further lockouts and that the challenges faced in staffing or with supply chains will diminish.
Pleasingly, as a Club, we have managed our finances prudently over the past two years, limiting reinvestment in our key course and clubhouse assets, to ensure our ability to meet our various financial obligations. So we continue to be in a sound financial position and remain debt free.
So with a sound financial platform, members who have reviewed our Strategic Plan, will note our intention to invest significantly over the coming five years in underpinning our key assets, while also seeking to address some of our major relative weaknesses. This approach aims to lift our overall member offering, in every way, to a level which compares favourably to the best golf clubs in Australia.
Our priorities have been set accordingly.
We have also identified the need for significant investment in our clubhouse, some of which has been captured in the Plan, some of which has been catered for in separate capex allocation, but where major initiatives will be accelerated only as finances permit or immediately within the subsequent Strategic Plan.
Ultimately, our focus is to ensure that members can enjoy a premium experience in every sense whenever they pass through our entry gates and yes, we do recognise that there is work to be done.
Fortunately, our Management team, who contributed to the development of the Strategic Plan, are aligned with the Board in our ambition and in terms of our objectives.
As a Club, as members, we already have much to appreciate. The investments we have made (and are making), have seen our course ranking reverse direction and rebound, to 17 with Golf Australia; 18 with Planet Golf and 27 with Golf Digest (where we had previously drifted to no 51). Allied with a consistently high quality condition/presentation, it’s a course that we can all, as members, be very proud about.
In terms of budget setting for the 2022/23 financial year, Finance sub-committee and management worked together towards developing a close to breakeven operating result. Your Board has signed off on challenging revenue and expenditure targets, which envisage a small operating loss. In setting a subscription rate increase of 3.9% (other major Victorian clubs have increased subscriptions by 6%), we recognise that there is some risk to our operating result aspirations in the form of inflation and competition for finite staffing resources. We have sought, however, to offset and to an extent to accept such risk (given that the management team will strive to achieve their targets), while recognising the disruption we have all experienced over he past two years.
The Board has also agreed to provide a complimentary guest green fee pass to 5, 6 and 7 day members members, which will be available for collection from the office, following the payment of subscriptions.
The option to pay subscriptions in instalments will continue, with administration fees and credit card fee reinstated to help recover processing and related costs.
Yarra Yarra continues to be one of the best value for money Clubs on the Sandbelt and is attracting strong levels of interest from prospective new members. Our Entrance fee will increase (from $10,000) to $12,000 effective 1 July. Your Club is in good shape. It has momentum and will continue to develop and improve over time, in every facet.
On behalf of your Board, I thank you once again for your ongoing support and look forward to seeing you at the Club, in the near future.
Sincerely yours,
Danny McGrady | President
